1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device which supports a plastic trash bag in an open and upright position so that an individual can easily fill the trash bag without having to repeatedly re-open it or obtain the assistance of other persons.
2. Art Background
In recent years, consumers have more regularly purchased and used plastic trash bags based upon four advantages not found in trash cans or any other conventional disposal receptacles.
First, plastic trash bags are made of a light weight, non-supportive, flexible plastic material unlike disposal receptacles such as standard thirty gallon outdoor trash cans which are normally made of rigid plastic or metal. Due to their light construction, plastic trash bags are frequently being used by many homeowners because standard thirty gallon trash cans are heavy, bulky, difficult to carry for a prolonged distance and difficult to store in small areas. Moreover, residents of apartments and condominium complexes almost solely use trash bags since each resident must deposit one's trash in a central dumpster which could be hundreds of yards away and multiple floors below one's residence.
Secondly, plastic trash bags provide an inexpensive disposal or storage means. Trash bags usually come in a package of five to ten trash bags which sells for a few dollars. Professional gardening crews particularly rely on trash bags in lieu of outdoor trash cans to efficiently perform their duties. Each individual within the gardening crew is assigned a specific task such as cutting grass or raking leaves and is given a trash bag to dispose of the refuse. As a result, gardening crews can quickly complete large gardening jobs and pass on the savings to its employers through lower rates.
Thirdly, unlike most disposal receptacles which are heavy and inflexible, trash bags are flexible enough to fit within the trunk of one's car enabling persons to transport items within the trash bags while protecting the car's trunk lining from the contents therein. Such a feature is extremely valuable to our country's recycling movement.
Finally, trash bags are completely disposable, a desirable feature when disposing odorous materials. Conventional receptacles, however, accumulate odors and remains of disposed items thereby requiring constant cleaning to remove such odors and remains.
Although trash bags offer many advantages over other disposal containers, there are two major disadvantage associated with using plastic trash bags.
The first major disadvantage is that plastic trash bags are extremely difficult to fill, particularly when one begins to fill a new trash bag because the trash bags commonly collapse due to their flexible and non-supportive nature. As a result, an appreciable amount of time and energy is wasted because in order to prevent the trash bag from collapsing and spilling its contents, a consumer must either hold the trash bag open with one hand and collect the disposable items with the other hand or obtain the assistance of another individual to hold the trash bag open. However, if a person is working by oneself and needs to use both hands for the collection of the disposable items such as leaves or grass cuttings, it would be extremely advantageous to have a device which holds a plastic trash bag firmly in place thereby freeing both hands of the consumer.
The second disadvantage is that plastic trash bags are made of a thin plastic material primarily for economic reasons. Thus, the bags are extremely susceptible to tearing when foliage such as tree branches, thorny bush clippings and similar matter are placed within the trash bag. Punctures in the trash bag walls reduce the overall strength of the trash bag's side walls and tend to propagate downward allowing previously disposed items to escape the confines of the bag. Such a condition is not desirable especially when grass cuttings and other items having small surface area are contained within the bag.
Many different types of plastic trash bag holders have been previously developed over the years in an attempt to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages. These previous trash bag holders can be divided into two groups: those holders which support a plastic trash bag from its outside and holders which support a plastic trash bag from its inside.
With respect to the former, in order to mitigate its first disadvantage, trash bags have been used essentially as liners for disposal receptacles. However, such use also eliminates some of the advantages associated with plastic trash bags. Furthermore, when trash bags are used as liners, they are not securely fastened to the trash receptacle subjecting the trash bag to close occasionally due to the gravitational force exerted on the bottom of the trash bag as items are deposited therein.
Plastic trash bag holders of the latter type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,890,653 and 4,979,547 issued to Hoerner. Hoerner discloses an elongated sleeve for holding a plastic trash bag in an upright, free-standing and open position. In these references, both sleeves have four side panels and a tab portion all of which are made of a rigid material such as cardboard which are coated with a water proof material. In both patents, the elongated sleeve is originally a pre-folded sheet in which the tab portion must be adhesively taped, stapled or riveted to a free edge of the panels in order to form a tubular structure. The sleeve is inserted into a plastic trash bag and the plastic trash bag is secured through two slits formed at the ends of the creases between two adjacent side panels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,778 issued to Boyle also discloses a device having five or more rectangular side panels hingedly interconnected in which the central panel and its adjacent panels have finger holes enabling the user to readily insert his finger or thumb through these holes to help when inserting the device into a plastic bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 672,657 issued to Vautrot, discloses a collapsible funnel removably fitted into the mouth of the bag and held intact thereto with drawstrings. The funnel is used primarily in connection with a tobacco bag having strong, self-supporting walls, unlike a plastic trash bag.
These prior art devices do not incorporate an original prefabricated tubular base having pre-folded panels, an attached funneling unit which increases the area of the inlet of the tubular base so items can be deposited more easily within the tubular base, or means for securing the tubular base and the funneling unit. Moreover, the prior art devices fail to provide a reliable means for supporting a trash bag because both Boyle and Hoerner teach a sleeve originally manufactured and packaged in a sheet configuration which could collapse when the trash bag is being filled.
It would be a great advantage to provide an inexpensive, compact and reliable device for supporting a plastic trash bag in an open and upright position so that an individual can fill the plastic trash bag without having to repeatedly re-open it or receive assistance from another person.